Maria Hoefl-Riesch does not know when she is beaten! The HEAD World Cup Rebel was a little down after the slalom in Soldeu, Andorra yet she did what she does best in putting the memory behind her: she posted the third best overall time to place on the podium in the Giant Slalom. While Tessa Worley won the race ahead of Tina Maze, Maria Hoefl-Riesch was happy to be back on the podium. After the weather had caused the cancellation of the first scheduled race, the rearranged race from Courchevel, the second race was received positively by the crowd and the racers.

As the season is drawing to the business end of the season, the inevitable questions on goals for the season have started. Hoefl-Riesch knows that after the poor start to the season, the Overall is beyond her for this season. Having recorded a fourth Did Not Finish in the Slalom on Saturday, Hoefl-Riesch felt that she had come back strong in the Giant Slalom: “I’m really happy after yesterday, I came back strong,” she said, “the trend is going up. I did not feel great in the first run. The snow is really special here – really dry and aggressive, so if your edges are too sharp, you have trouble getting the turns. I tried to keep my edges going down.”

Lizz Goergl very nearly made it onto the podium and had she not almost come to grief with the second to last gate, the results may have been very different. Alongside Goergl, Anna Fenninger, winner of the Giant Slalom race in Lienz, posted the fastest second run time that saw her place sixth overall, just behind Goergl.

With the second run start lowered due to swirling winds, the positive vibes that the racers gave following the race should see the races return in the future. In the short term, the racers head off to Sochi next weekend for more speed races in a Downhill and Super Combined.

Lindsey Vonn still leads the Overall after finishing eighth in the Giant Slalom. After the race she said “It's not at all what I had in mind when I came here. I was looking for podiums and the first giant slalom was cancelled, I skied out oft the slalom and finished eighth here. It's an obvious disappointment. Unfortunately, I made a really big mistake right in the middle of the course going onto the flat and lost a lot of time.”